WALNUT CREEK -- The Dean and Margaret Lesher Foundation has given a $50,000 challenge grant to Save Mount Diablo to help pay for the restoration of the historic beacon atop Mount Diablo.

Save Mount Diablo has been heading a restoration project to fix the beacon that is turned on every Dec. 7 on Pearl Harbor Day.

Repair estimates hover around $100,000, and now the Lesher Foundation has agreed to match any donation of any size, dollar for dollar up to $50,000, according to a Save Mount Diablo news release. The group itself has raised $20,000.

"It is crucial to have these funds now so the Beacon can be restored and returned in time for local Pearl Harbor Survivors to light it again this Dec. 7 in memory of their fellow shipmates," according to the news release.

The beacon is scheduled to be taken from the summit building in mid-June for restoration.